The present invention relates to a device for monitoring usage of audiovisual equipment. In particular, the present invention relates to a device for interfacing with the tuner portion of set-top converter boxes to determine a channel being watched by a television viewer.
Determining a number of viewers watching a particular television program is of great importance to television networks, stations, programmers and advertisers. Information regarding the number of viewers is used to determine market share and the ratings of particular programs. This information is additionally used to determine advertising rates, which in turn affects the revenue generated by the television networks and stations.
There are numerous systems known in the art that attempt to monitor the viewing habit of television watchers. Early attempts at monitoring were fairly simple and unsophisticated, and generally required viewers to maintain a diary of programs watched. As the viewers began and finished watching a particular channel or program, they entered a start and end time in to the diary. The viewers periodically mailed the diaries to a central collection location, which then processed the diaries. The disadvantages of such a system are many, including: failure to enter information into the diaries, inaccurate entries into the diaries, and delays in processing. Further, as the number of channels provided to households has increased dramatically, it has become increasingly difficult for viewers to accurately track their viewing habits.
Later attempts have become more sophisticated and efficient by automating portions of the data collection process and the determination of the channel currently being viewed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,685, to Roberts et al., discloses a television monitoring system having a channel detection unit, a people monitoring unit, a transmission unit, and a receiving unit. The channel detection unit detects ultra or very high frequency radiation emitted from a television tuner to determine if the channel being tuned is one of the channels which have been preset into the detection unit. The detection is performed by a pick-up probe that inductively couples the signal emitted from the local oscillator of the television receiver. The people monitor unit is a powered handset that includes buttons assigned to each of the individuals who will be viewing the television set. The viewer depresses his or her assigned button to indicate he or she has started to watch the television. The viewing data is stored and transmitted by the transmission unit over household wiring to the receiving unit. The receiving unit sends the collected information to a central computer via a telephone connection. While this system speeds the data transmission process to the central computer as compared to mailing diaries to a processing center, there are several disadvantages in this system. For example, those of skill in the art will recognize that the location of the pick-up probe will greatly affect the sensitivity and accuracy of the channel detection unit. Further, as each viewer must manually depress a button on the people monitor, it is subject to the same inaccuracies of the diary method noted above, i.e., the failure of viewers to record the television channels actually watched.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,079, to Tuner et al., describes networked conventional audio and visual equipment that communicate via telephone lines with a remote central computer. The viewer provides channel selection commands or other programming commands to a microprocessor through an infrared remote control. A VCR tuner and TV tuner within the system provide audio and video signals for the conventional television monitor or television receiver. An AM and FM radio tuner may also be included, tunable by the microprocessor. In the Tuner et al. system, the video and/or audio signals from each tuner, video tape player, and disc players are coupled to the input side of an audio switch and a video switch. The switches are microprocessor controlled so that the audio and video program from any source may be coupled to any output or display device at the viewing location. The system includes a motion detector to determine the presence of viewers and provides for communication with a remote computer to monitor use of each networked audiovisual unit. While this system provides for monitoring and logging of each networked audiovisual unit, the Tuner et al. system is designed to control a large home-entertainment system, rather than a small-scale solution to monitoring viewers"" habits. In particular, the Turner et al. system is indicated to cost a few hundred dollars, and would fail to provide a solution to television networks and advertisers who are interested in obtaining accurate viewing statistics by deploying systems to a relatively large number of viewers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,552, to Allison, III, et al., describes a system that collects television channel tuning data that transmits the data to a central site in a transparent manner to the occupants of the household. The system is designed having a hub and spoke architecture, where the hub unit communicates with metering devices attached to television receivers and/or cable television converters. The meters are periodically polled by the hub, which then collects the data acquired by each meter. The hub communicates with a host computer via standard telephone lines. The Allison, III, et al. system particularly describes the central hub device and gathering data before transmitting it to the central site. However, the Allison, III et al. system fails to provide an improved metering unit by contemplating the use of known channel meters.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,951, to Welsh, discloses a system for monitoring and recording data related to television program viewing habits that includes a plurality of remote program monitor units that automatically report such data to a central computer via a conventional telephone network. The monitor unit reads a character string that is decoded from the demodulated television signal received by the unit. The character string is compared to a string table stored within the unit to determine the content being viewed by the television watcher. If there is a match, an event code and a time are stored in the unit for reporting to the central computer. However, for the system to operate, the character string must be encoded into the received television signal, otherwise there will be no match with the string table stored in memory. Further, the string table must be kept current for the system to provide accurate results.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,970, to Kiefl, describes a system for monitoring and collecting data on the viewing habits of television viewers that includes a portable personal data collection device that is separate from the television or set-top converter. The personal data collection devices includes a detector for providing a station identifier identifying the particular broadcast signal being received by the receiver, a clock for providing a signal representing time, a memory for storing data, and a cellular telephone module for communicating with a central location. The cellular telephone module periodically transmits stored data within the device to the central location. The viewer may enter channel information directly into the device, or the device may include a detector for detecting a channel selection signal from a television remote control to change the station identifier stored in memory. While this is an improvement over diaries, this system requires a personal data collection device for each individual watching a particular television set. Further, because the device is physically separate from the television set, the data collected may not be accurate as viewers may either fail to enter channel information or the device may not detect an infrared transmission from the television remote control.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,282, to Mostafa, et al., discloses a tuning/monitoring module for monitoring use of a video equipment without the use of probes by injecting RF signals into a cable converter and a VCR in order to detect channels selected by the cable converter and the VCR. In accordance with signals received from the cable converter and the VCR, the tuning/monitoring module can determine a selected channel being viewed by the viewers. Channel identification signals are also injected into the VCR and cable converter for recording by the VCR on videotape. The state of the xe2x80x9cTV/VCRxe2x80x9d switch of the VCR is determined by injecting a code signal into the VCR and determining whether that signal is present in an RF video signal output by the VCR. The receiver also receives data contained in channel identification signals. The receiver is selectively connectable to the VCR and the cable converter. However, this system requires the use of the special tuning/monitoring module in place of a tuner provided with a television or VCR in order to provided the injected signal to determine the viewed channel. Such a special tuning/monitoring module increases the expense associated with tracking viewers"" habits.
In view of the above, there is a need for an integrated solution to detect the channels being watched by viewers. There is also a need for a system that does not interfere with any of the consumer""s electronics, equipment or features. In particular, there is a need for a system that provides channel information without requiring addition steps to be taken by viewers, and that functions such that the consumer""s VCR, TV, remote controls are not tampered with or opened and continue to operate normally.
In view of the above, the present invention, through one or more of its various aspects and/or embodiments is thus presented to accomplish one or more objects and advantages, such as those noted below.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tuner interface device for use in determining a currently tuned-to channel of a set-top converter box having an electronic tuner which tunes to a viewer-selected channel in response to commands provided thereto by the set-top converter device. The tuner interface device comprises an electrical connection to the electronic tuner and a controller. The controller is connected to the electronic tuner by the electrical connection and receives the commands transmitted to the electronic tuner to generate information representative of the currently tuned-to tuned channel.
According to a feature of the present invention, the tuner is electrically connected to a bus by which electrical components within the set-top converter box communicate, and the tuner is addressable by a unique identifier that is communicated over the bus. The controller monitors communications over the bus, and the commands are communicated to the electronic tuner following the communication of the unique identifier. When the unique identifier is communicated to the electronic tuner, the controller captures the commands in order to determine the currently tuned-to channel. The controller also determines if the commands are to change the electronic tuner from a first tuned-to channel to a second tuned-to channel and determines if the second tuned-to channel is different than the first tuned-to channel. If so, the second tuned-to channel is to become the currently tuned to channel.
According to another feature of the present invention, the information representative of the tuned channel may be output to a second device connected to the tuner interface via a second electrical connection, such that the second device may further process the information representative of the currently tuned-to channel. The controller may output the information as an ASCII value to a viewership meter connected to the tuner interface via the second electrical connection. The viewership meter may include an audio matching circuit to compare a first audio signal of a predetermined channel tuned by the viewership collection meter with a second audio signal output by a television to which the set-top converter is connected. If the first audio signal and the second audio signal match, the viewership collection meter determines that the channel to which the set-top converter box is tuned is the predetermined channel. Also, the tuner interface board may be adapted to receive power and additional data via the second electrical connection.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for determining viewership of channels tunable by a set-top converter box having an electronic tuner. The system includes a tuner interface device connected to the electronic tuner and a viewership collection meter connected to the tuner interface which periodically stores a channel to which the set-top converter is tuned. The channel to which the set-top converter is tuned is determined by the tuner interface and communicated to the viewership collection meter. Further, the viewership collection meter stores the channel and forwards it to a predetermined location at selected times.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of determining a currently tuned-to channel of a set-top converter box having an electronic tuner which tunes to a viewer-selected channel in response to commands provided thereto by the set-top converter device. The method comprises receiving the commands at the tuner interface; determining the currently tuned-to channel by interpreting the commands; generating a coded representation of the currently tuned-to channel; and outputting the coded representation.
According to another feature, the electronic tuner is electrically connected to a bus over which electrical components within the set-top converter box communicate, and the tuner is addressable by a unique identifier that is communicated over the bus. The step of receiving the commands at the tuner interface includes monitoring, at the controller, communications over the bus; determining when the unique identifier is communicated; and capturing the commands that follow the unique identifier.
According to another feature, the method further comprises determining if the commands comprise instructions to change from a first tuned-to channel to a second tuned-to channel different than the first tuned-to channel; and if so, designating the second tuned-to channel as the currently tuned-to channel.
According to still another feature, the step of generating a coded representation of the determined channel comprises generating an ASCII value of the channel to which the set-top converter box is tuned. Further, the step of outputting the coded representation comprises serially transmitting the ASCII value to a viewership meter.
Other features of the invention are described below.